Introducing: The Inside Dance Blog With Jillian Quiner

Welcome to the Inside Dance blog!

My name is Jillian Quiner, and I will be your tour guide as we traverse the journey of a dancer. To start things off, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a twenty-year-old native New Jerseyan who happens to be the eldest of eight children. My five sisters and I each have our own passion for dance. We have enjoyed training and attending dance events with one another throughout the years.

In addition to taking college classes online with Regent University, I currently train in NYC as a scholarship student with Jennifer Muller/The Works, which allows me to take company class on a regular basis, become acquainted with Jennifer Muller’s unique style of modern dance, “the Muller Polarity Technique,” and support the company through administrative work and event assistance. I also enjoy rehearsing and teaching young artists at the same school in NJ where I got my start in dance!

In the beginning dance for me was no more than a fun hobby. Competitive gymnastics was my mom’s thing. She had also trained in ballet for six years, so when a dance studio was discovered five minutes away from our house, she thought, ‘Why not put the girls in a ballet class? They’ll look so cute in a tutu!’ At the time my sister and I were two and four years old, respectively. Mom signed us up for lessons, and I made my debut with Ballet, Tap, & Tumbling classes. Three years later, I was invited to join the school’s performing company, which introduced me to the world of competition dance. One thing led to another as, each year, friendships grew stronger, skill increased, in-studio and competition goals got bigger.

Eventually, the art I dedicated more and more of my time to perfecting became deeper and deeper embedded in the fabric of who I was.

About halfway through my dance career, my family made the decision to switch to a ballet school, so we could focus on honing our technique. I wasn’t so sure about the change at first, but it proved to be just what I needed to take my movement quality to the next level.

Throughout the years, I have been blessed through dance in many amazing ways, not the least of which is the opportunity to blog for Inside Dance and all you lovely readers! Training at two different studios and attending countless competitions, conventions, intensives and other events has given my experience with dance a lot of variety and infused my personal abilities and style with many colors. My dance journey has also made for quite a few interesting stories with high highs, low lows, and everything in between! In the coming posts, I hope to share some of these tales with you all.

Since this is my first post, I’ll keep it short. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know your tour guide a little better. I am here to serve you, so if there is anything specific you would be interested in hearing about, let me know! I look forward to sharing my experiences as an artist with each and every one of you and celebrating this beautiful phenomenon we call dance.

Ciao for now!

Jillian

Jillian Quiner trains in New York City as a scholarship student with Jennifer Muller/The Works while working toward a degree at Regent University. When she’s not busy training or going to class, Jillian teaches young dancers at her childhood dance school. You can follow Jillian’s dance journey on social media @jillianquiner and @quiner_sisters!

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